Radios

When I was a teenager, in the late 80's & early 90's, CB Radio was HUGE! It was widespread where ever you went in New Zealand, making local contacts was super easy and my first experience was with the GE CB radio handheld. The GE CB was extremely limited, but I was able to make some contacts with it, albiet very local to my QTH, but it was really good fun, and a year later I was able to pick up the Uniden PC244 which I took to boarding school, and again made some really good contacts around the local area. But I never really had any idea about antenna's, propagation, frequencies, I was a channel switcher! It would be another 15 years before I would get involved with radios again, outside of work and volunteering. Circa 2005 I bought another Uniden PC244 and I started to learn more about the radio, the channels, sideband etc. Though clearly the popularity of using a CB radio had all but disappeared. It would be months of nothing, then over the summer there was a day where clearly the atmosperics were really good and I was getting signal skip from the Waikato NZ, all the way down to Canterbury NZ, which is about 800-1000 km's, I also started to pick up some Australian transmissions. This really opened the door to wanting to do more and someone suggested Amateur Radio, but it would be another year before I moved to a place that had a club. In the meantime I purchased the Kenwood TS700a, a 2 meter transceiver, which I used to listen to the regional Waikato repeater. I loved the idea of frequency agility and really looked forward to getting on the air. Eventually I landed in Hamilton, Waikato NZ, and joined the local club, which had some incredibly talented and knowledgable members who helped guide me through my learning and exam, also making my first HF dipole antenna, and the basics of tuning to the band. I really appreciated them and all the help they gave me. The club leant me a Kenwood TS500s HF Transceiver, which for the longest time I used to listen to transmissions on 80 meters and then when I was able to, I started transmitting, predominantly on 80 meters, and occasionally on 40 meters. I really liked sitting on a frequency and calling CQ and would be amazed by some of the great contacts I made. My first HF purchase was the Codan 6924, which was a crysal based 5w HF transceiver, really simple and robust. A really supportive local ham helped me to set up crystals in the rig to suit some 80 meter frequencies, I really learnt alot at that time. I actually didnt think that I would get much distance with my transmissions, but I managed to reach as far as Victoria Australia (+2500km) and also Norfalk Island (+1100km). I was immediately sold on QRP! I loved the challenge that came with it and as someone once said, its all about antenna's, antenna's, antenna's. I eventually moved, changed jobs, had a family and about 2014 I purchased the Yaesu FT 840, which was a great radio, but life just got in the way and I really didnt keep up with it. Though, now we have entered into 2024, I have the time and the inclination to give it another try! As I regrettably sold all of my radios over the years, I am getting started with a very cheap SDR HF Radio to get back on air and see what I can achieve. No doubt I will look to get my hands on some other equipment, I do like the challenge of valve transceivers, but I also like portability and the ability to camp out, so watch this space.